As Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik would be visiting the steel city on Wednesday, the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) management, the district administration and leaders of both the BJP and the BJD were busy on Tuesday in preparation to make the event successful. Ahead of the two leaders' visit, every nook and corner of the city is decorated with their cutouts either installed by the RSP or by the party cadres. The RSP management is excited because after Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's RSP visit on December 16, 1957, Modi would be the second PM to visit the plant after 58 years. The RSP has also made all arrangements to decorate the passages through which the carcade will pass to impress the PM.
During his short visit of about two hours, Modi would be visiting different sites of the Rourkela Steel Plant. He would be dedicating a new and modernised plant at RSP to the nation which has been completed with an investment of Rs 12,000 crore. Also, MoU will be inked between the Government of Odisha and the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Coal for development of infrastructure for efficient extraction of coal. After the operational of RSP modernisation units, the plant will augment its hot metal capacity from 2 MTPA to 4.5 MTPA.
For public meeting a huge area has been covered with full air conditioner fitting. 30,000 chairs are placed for public sitting. The entire area has been cordoned with security and mobile jammer. Rourkela SP Anirudha Singh said adequate precautionary arrangements have been made for traffic control during the PM's visit keeping in view the flow of people to the spot from different parts of the district. Even arrangements are made for uninterrupted electricity supply. Besides accompanying all through with the PM in all the programmes, CM Patnaik will also inaugurate the much-talked about Ahaar scheme and Jeevan Bindu (Blood Donation camp) at the Rourkela Government Hospital.